Real Food Daily is Southern California’s premiere organic vegan restaurant, serving an authentic, creative, and nutritionally balanced menu. It’s a cherished destination where community values like education, connection, and hospitality are embraced over delicious food that’s real.

Is this your first restaurant?

I have three restaurants in the Los Angeles area and one in Los Angeles International Airport.

When did it open?

Santa Monica opened in 1993, West Hollywood in 1998, Pasadena in 2012, and the LAX outpost in 2013.

How many do you hope to have in the future? Will you expand further?

We are the first organic plant-based restaurant to open in an airport. With success, we hope to expand to more airport terminals in the future as well as open more RFDs on the West Coast.

What’s your favorite dish on the menu?

Everything has been my favorite at some time or another, but I would have to say my mainstay dish has been The Basics. I like to keep it simple with choosing several macrobiotic staples that give me variety in flavor, texture, and satisfaction.

What’s your most popular appetizer?

Our most popular appetizer is, hands down, our Not-Chos. They are perfect for a decadent yet healthy gluten-free option and are especially to die for with our famous cashew cheese recipe. My servers came up with the idea to add our taco mix to this dish, and this brings a whole new dimension to the dish.

What’s the most popular entrée on the menu?

The Supreme Burrito is the fan favorite. The basics are rice, beans, tempeh bacon, guacamole, tofu sour cream, lettuce, tomato, and our cashew cheese. People in Southern California have a great appreciation for Tex-Mex style food.

What’s your most popular dessert?

Our brownie bowl, chocolate chip cookie, and Faux-Stess Cupcake are a few among many coveted vegan desserts on our menu.

What do you feel is special about your restaurant?

Real Food Daily is a leader in the plant-based green food movement. Since 1993, we have been at the forefront, raising the standards and expectations of plant-based restaurants. From the genuinely kind employees to the quality fare offered, we're a true center for community gathering and appreciation.

How often do you change your menu items? Do you have daily or weekly specials?

We update our menu four times a year with seasonal changes. Our menu is balanced according to Eastern health philosophies and heart-healthy Western nutrition recommendations.

Do you have gluten-free, soy-free, and sugar-free options on your menu?

We have gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, and raw options. We also primarily use maple syrup and maple crystals to sweeten our desserts and stray from using refined sugars.

What do you do to reduce your environmental impact?

RFD has always been a champion of the environment by virtue of serving an exclusive plant-based menu using organic produce and ingredients. We participate in the city of Santa Monica’s food composting program and even give our unused and leftover cooking oil to a local farmer to use as biofuel in his tractor! In addition to many other environmentally sound business practices, we use green cleaning supplies and energy-efficient appliances in the kitchens and office, and many of our local staff bike, walk, or ride the bus to work.

What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as owner or chef of this restaurant?

Food is the product, but it’s all about the delivery, the experience, the human connection, and the ability to figure out what our guests really want and to serve that to them on so many different levels. We pride ourselves on giving people the full experience.

What led you to want to open a vegan restaurant, and/or what led you to the vegan diet yourself?

When I moved to Los Angeles, I thought I would be moving to the mecca of natural foods. I was astonished to find there was really no organic plant-based restaurant that felt comfortable to me, so I started cooking for myself more. Soon my friends and coworkers caught on to my vegan dishes and demanded I cook for them, too. I developed a cooking service that expanded to a catered home delivery business and, five years later, opened up my first restaurant.

My style of food is a blend of three influences: my interest in macrobiotics, my roots in Southern food, and the influence of organic produce when I moved to California. My commitment has always been sourcing organic foods, food education, and creating a homey experience for like-minded people—a community.

In the time since your restaurant first opened, how has the plant-based food movement changed? Do you find more demand now for vegan food?

Absolutely. Today there is much more awareness surrounding health and longevity; therefore, a plant-based diet has become much more acceptable and mainstream. All kinds of people are willing to come to a plant-based restaurant these days.

Since your restaurant first opened, has your view of what constitutes healthy or delicious foods changed? Have you changed the types of foods you offer?

Now more and more people are interested in not only vegan cuisine but a wide variety of flavors and textures. Globalization and travel has influenced consumers’ tastes. We’ve addressed the demand in diversity with our seasonal specials as well as by expanding our menu.

As competitors and copycats pop up, we realize our strong suit remains at the core of our mission statement—providing authentic, delicious, certified organic plant-based cuisine that is healthy and nutritious. Surprisingly, it is becoming rare to find genuinely healthy options among the fast-casual plant-based places. At Real Food Daily we provide a premiere culinary experience, which stems from our commitment to providing nutrient-rich dishes.

Where do you see the plant-based food movement going in coming years?

I see the expansion of organic, health-centered restaurants as critical to our society, and anticipate the movement to trend nationally and globally.

This rice roll has been on the RFD menu since we opened and has always been a favorite because guests are amazed and delighted that sushi can be vegan. We follow the traditional format of rolling rice in nori sea vegetable, but we fill it with an assortment of vegetables, along with some flavorful condiments. Our culinary director, Tara Punzone, created this variation, incorporating her love of pickled vegetables. We like using some of the exotic rice in the marketplace today. If you can’t source jade pearl rice, white sushi rice is an easy substitute.

Kimchi Nori Maki Roll

Serves 4

For the sushi rice:

2 cups jade pearl rice

3 cups water

½ teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons brown rice vinegar

1 tablespoon mirin

For the sweet miso dipping sauce:

½ cup agave syrup

¼ cup white miso

1 tablespoon tamari

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

2 tablespoons sesame oil

To assemble:

4 sheets toasted nori

4 cups sushi rice

1 handful fresh pea shoots

8 ounces kimchi

8 asparagus spears, grilled

1 firm but ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, and cut into thin wedges

1 red pepper, julienned

2 green onions, cut lengthwise into ¼"-wide strips

6 teaspoons sesame seeds

Equipment needed: bamboo mat for rolling sushi, pressure cooker

For the sushi rice: Combine the rice, water, and sea salt in a 4¼-quart pressure cooker. Lock the lid into place. Bring the pressure to high over high heat. Decrease the heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 10 minutes to allow the pressure to reduce. Carefully unlock the lid and remove it from the pot.

Transfer the rice to a large bowl. Drizzle the vinegar and mirin over the rice. Using chopsticks, gently toss the rice to coat it with the vinegar and mirin. Cool the rice completely at room temperature.

For the sweet miso dipping sauce: Place all ingredients except the sesame oil into a high-speed blender and blend. Slowly add the oil and pulse to emulsify. Set aside.

To assemble: Place 1 nori sheet shiny side down on a bamboo mat with 1 long side positioned closest to you. Spread 1 cup of rice in an even layer over the nori sheet, leaving a ½" border on the top long side. Place a few pea shoots facing out on each side. (Allow the leafy tips to stick out of the end of the nori.) Next, place 2 ounces of kimchi in an even line across the rice. Just below the kimchi, arrange 2 asparagus spears facing out, with the tips slightly sticking out of nori. Next arrange a quarter of the avocado slices, red pepper strips, and green onions atop the rice.

Using the bamboo mat as an aid and beginning with the long side closest to you, roll up the nori tightly. Moisten the opposite long edge with water and seal the roll. Repeat to make 4 rolls total.

Once all rolls have been assembled, cut each roll into 8 pieces, approximately ½"-thick slices, using a large, very sharp knife. Arrange the slices with the cut side up on a platter. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve with the sweet miso dipping sauce.

In the early years, when I was at the stove, I created daily specials. As the menu expanded, daily creations became seasonal. Published in my second cookbook, Vegan Family Meals, Real Food for Everyone, this main course recipe reflects the style and simplicity of the restaurant’s cooking, as it is a one-pot meal comprised of colorful vegetables cooked in a fragrant broth served with whole grains and using whole soy as a plant protein.

One-Pot Vegetables and Tofu with Sesame Rice

Serves 4

1 medium onion

1 large head broccoli, stems removed, florets cut into bitesize pieces (about 2 cups)

½ small butternut squash (about 1¼ pounds), peeled and cut into ½" cubes

2 medium carrots, peeled and cut

¼ head green cabbage

8 ounces sugar snap peas, trimmed

3 ounces small fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed

1 cup water

¼ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

1 5"-piece fresh ginger, peeled

⅔ cup mirin

6 tablespoons tamari

1 14-ounce block fresh, firm tofu, cut into ¾" cubes

1½ cups watercress, stems removed

Sesame Rice (recipe follows)

2 scallions, thinly sliced (garnish)

1 nori sheet, cut into thin strips (garnish)

Quarter the onion through the stem end, then place the whole cut onion in the middle of a large cast-iron skillet, doing your best to keep the onion together. Arrange the broccoli, squash, carrots, cabbage, sugar snap peas, and mushrooms in clusters around the onions. Add just enough water to cover the bottom of the skillet (about 1 cup). Sprinkle ¼ teaspoon sea salt evenly over the vegetables. Cover and turn heat to high. Bring to a boil, and then decrease the heat to medium-low and simmer until the squash is crisp-tender, about 12 minutes.

Using a Microplane grater, grate the ginger over a paper towel or sheet of cheesecloth, and then squeeze the pulp to extract 2 teaspoons of ginger juice into a small bowl. Mix in the mirin and tamari with the ginger. Add the tofu and toss to coat. Spoon the tofu mixture over the vegetables and simmer uncovered until the tofu is hot, about 5 minutes. Add the watercress and simmer until it wilts, about 2 minutes.

Serve by dividing the sesame rice equally among the dinner plates or bowls. Using chopsticks, pick small amounts of each vegetable and the tofu and place atop the rice. With a wide spoon, pour some of the broth over the vegetables. Garnish with scallions and strips of nori.

Sesame Rice

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 cups cooked rice (brown, basmati, or jasmine)

¼ cup sesame seeds

Heat the oil in a heavy, large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the rice and sesame seeds and cook just until heated through, about 3 minutes.